We shouldn’t neglect the possible scenario of suffering from long COVID, regardless of how tempting it might be otherwise. For those unaware, “long COVID” refers to the effects of the COVID-19 disease that continue long after the initial infection and illness.
Many have wondered how to deal with long COVID. Although there is plenty of hope, we should also take into account what a new study published in The Journal for Nurse Practitioners has to say.
Daily antihistamines might be the answer
According to ScienceAlert.com, two individuals from California who were suffering from long COVID took antihistamines every day. Surprisingly, the treatment made them decrease their symptoms almost completely. Long COVID is also known as PASC, meaning post-acute sequelae of the SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Melissa Pinto, a nurse from the University of California, stated:
Patients tell us they wish more than anything that they could work and do the most basic activities they used to before they got sick with long COVID. They are desperately searching for something to help them get back on their feet,
Currently, there is no cure for PASC, only symptom management. A number of options are being tried, with antihistamines being one of them. The possibility that an easy-to-access, over-the-counter medication could ease some of the PASC symptoms should offer hope to the estimated 54 million people worldwide who have been in distress for months or even years.
The Omicron variant is believed to be causing the most COVID infections across the world in the present. There’s an even more contagious variant out there: BA.2, which is actually a subvariant of Omicron.
However, the evidence behind the use of antihistamines to treat long COVID is not compelling enough since it’s based on personal accounts. Further research is needed to confirm whether antihistamines work against long COVID or not.
